Published Volumes

The Papers of Jefferson Davis is published by Louisiana State University Press. Online ordering links are listed below each volume. Orders can also be placed by phone at 1-800-848-6224 or by fax at 1-800-272-6817.

The first four volumes contain full text or summarized notation of all known Davis documents through 1852. Due to the extensive correspondence beginning with the secretary of war period and continuing though the Civil War years, Volume 5 and subsequent volumes are selective, with routine bureaucratic communication omitted. Documents discovered too late to be included in the proper chronological sequence are published in appendices. All volumes contain illustrations and detailed endpaper maps.

Volume 1: 1808-1840

Edited by Haskell M. Monroe, Jr., and James T. McIntosh

Introduction by Bruce Catton

Published in 1971; revised edition, 1991

The first volume, comprising 537 documents, covers Davis' early years in Kentucky and Mississippi, his education at West Point, his first military assignments, and his brief marriage to Sarah Knox Taylor. Two autobiographical pieces, written weeks before Davis' death, are included, as is a Davis Family Genealogy. This volume won the first Founders Award given by the Confederate Memorial Literary Society (Museum of the Confederacy).

Volume 2: June 1841-July 1846

Edited by James T. McIntosh

Introduction by Sanford W. Higginbotham

Published in 1974; revised edition, 1987

Coverage of Davis' careers as planter and politician begins in the second volume. The 255 documents cover his unsuccessful race for the state legislature, his selection as a presidential elector, his marriage to Varina Banks Howell, his election to the House of Representatives, and his departure to assume command of the 1st Mississippi Regiment.

Volume 3: July 1846-December 1848

Edited by James T. McIntosh, Lynda L. Crist, and Mary S. Dix

Introduction by K. Jack Bauer

Published in 1981

Colonel Davis takes command of the 1st Mississippi Regiment at the beginning of the third volume. He returns from the Mexican War a hero, wounded in action at Buena Vista. The resulting popularity sends him to the Senate in 1848. The volume includes 152 documents printed in full (i.e., with annotation) and 533 summarized items.

Volume 4: 1849-1852

Edited by Lynda L. Crist, Mary S. Dix, and Richard E. Beringer

Introduction by Richard E. Beringer

Published in 1983

Sectional issues become more prominent for Senator Davis in the fourth volume. The 1,000+ documents (108 printed in full) include his opposition to the Compromise of 1850, his proposal to purchase camels for military transportation, and his advocacy of a Pacific railroad. Davis resigned from the Senate in 1851 to mount an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign, then laid the groundwork for a cabinet post by campaigning for Franklin Pierce in 1852. The volume also includes an extensive Davis Family Genealogy.

Volume 5: 1853-1855

Edited by Lynda L. Crist and Mary S. Dix

Introduction by Robert M. Utley

Published in 1985; revised edition, 2000

The fifth volume shows Davis as an especially active secretary of war, overseeing revision of the West Point curriculum, construction of the Washington Aqueduct, expansion of the Capitol (including the dome addition), development of new weapons and armaments, the Crimea commission, the Pacific railroad surveys, and the camel experiment. Of the approximately 21,700 known documents for this period, 93 are printed in full and around 9,000 appear in precis form.

Volume 6: 1856-1860

Edited by Lynda L. Crist and Mary S. Dix

Introduction by Robert W. Johannsen

Published in 1989

After a final year as secretary of war, during which he dealt with turmoil in Kansas and oversaw army reorganization, the sixth volume has Davis returning to the Senate as a leading southern voice during the secession crisis. Nearly half of the 12,900 documents for the period are summarized, and 116 of the most important are printed with full annotation.

Volume 7: 1861

Edited by Lynda L. Crist and Mary S. Dix

Introduction by Frank E. Vandiver

Published in 1992

Davis "reaches his destiny in this volume," according to the introduction, as he bids farewell to the Senate and becomes president of the Confederacy. As hopes for a peaceful separation from the North end with the firing on Fort Sumter, Davis is faced with the task of quickly assembling both a government and an army. The 2,500+ documents (124 printed in full) provide a remarkable view of the shaping of a nation and its president.

Volume 8: 1862

Edited by Lynda L. Crist, Mary S. Dix, and Kenneth H. Williams

Introduction by Grady McWhiney

Published in 1995

The war becomes more personal for Davis in 1862. A Union advance on Richmond convinces him to send his family to Raleigh in May, a separation which produces some of the most remarkable and revealing correspondence of the series. At the same time, Joseph E. Davis is forced to abandon the brothers' plantations in Mississippi. Feuds with Joseph E. Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard grow, and differences with George W. Randolph drive the secretary of war from office, but Davis' friendship with Robert E. Lee blossoms. Over 2,000 documents are included, with 133 printed in full. Volume 8 won The Museum of the Confederacy's Founders Award (1997).

Volume 9: January-September 1863

Edited by Lynda L. Crist, Mary S. Dix, and Kenneth H. Williams

Introduction by Judith Fenner Gentry

Published in 1997

This volume provides a vivid picture of Davis as wartime leader. Readers can learn what Davis knew as the noose tightened around Vicksburg and Lee guided his battle-hardened army toward Pennsylvania. The rift with Joseph E. Johnston grows, while Braxton Bragg and John C. Pemberton fail in important commands. Various hopes for ending the conflict give way to the harsh realities of a prolonged war, increasingly confined to southern soil. Through much of the period Davis battles both ill health and generals either reluctant or incapable of carrying out his wishes. Eighty-one documents are presented with annotation, 242 more in full text, and 1,750 others in shorter form.

Volume 10: October 1863-August 1864

Edited by Lynda L. Crist, Kenneth H. Williams, and Peggy L. Dillard

Introduction by James I. Robertson, Jr.

Published in 1999

In Volume 10 Davis struggles to keep the Confederacy united as Federal armies advance in all areas. Infighting among generals in Braxton Bragg's western command leads Davis to turn to Joseph E. Johnston, only to find it necessary to replace Johnston seven months later. Robert E. Lee meets the stern challenge of Ulysses S. Grant, while Davis faces rising opposition from governors and Congress.

Volume 11: September 1864-May 1865

Edited by Lynda L. Crist, Barbara J. Rozek, and Kenneth H. Williams

Introduction by Richard J. Sommers

Published in 2003

Covering the tumultuous last nine months of the war, Volume 11 tells of the demise of the Confederate States. It also showcases Davis' vigorous and determined efforts to maintain the government despite recurring defeats, financial disaster, failures in diplomacy and peace negotiations, and plummeting morale. Of special note are the documents concerning the fall of Richmond and the Davises' eventful flight until their capture in Georgia on May 10.

Volume 12: June 1865-December 1870

Volume 12 follows Davis and his family as they fight to find their place in the world after the Civil War. Davis was released from federal prison after two hard years, he was not free from legal proceedings until 1869. Stateless, homeless, and without means to support himself and his young family, Davis lived in Canada and then Europe, searching for a new career in a congenial atmosphere. In November 1869, he settled in Memphis as president of a life insurance company, and for the first time in four years, had the means to build a new life.

Volume 13: 1871-1879

Edited by Lynda L. Crist and Suzanne Scott Gibbs

Introduction by T. Michael ParrishPublished in 2012

Throughout the 1870s, Davis waged an expensive and seemingly endless legal battle to regain his prewar Mississippi plantation, Brierfield. He also began working on his memoirs at Beauvoir, the Gulf Coast estate of a family friend. Though disfranchised, Davis addressed the subject of politics with more frequency during this decade, criticizing the Reconstruction policies of the federal government while defending the South and the former Confederacy. The volume ends with Davis’s inheritance of Beauvoir, which was his last home.

Volume 14: 1880-1889

Edited by Lynda L. Crist and Suzanne Scott Gibbs

Introduction by William C. DavisPublished in 2015

Volume 14 covers the preparation and publication of Davis' memoirs, his
travels abroad, speaking tours in the South, plantation management and
personal business and family matters during the last ten years of his
life. As the
"Lost Cause" gained momentum, Davis became a leading voice, consulted
by influential southerners on a wide range of topics, from Gettysburg to
prohibition.